Beware of the taxi black hole
Beware of the taxi black hole
As recent survey has revealed that many workers in Sydney are making too much of a habit out of leaving behind their mobile devices, such as laptops, PDAs and smartphones in the back of taxis, which contain extremely valuable company information.
These workers are being urged to use the password and encryption facilities available in order to protect the sensitive information held inside these technological systems.
The survey, carried out Pointsec, revealed that in the last 6 months in Sydney revealed that 13,280 mobile phones (an average of 2 per taxi), 1725 pocket PCs and 977 laptops have been left in licensed taxi cabs.
Many devices now have a standard memory capacity of 80Mb, providing access to 6,000 word documents, 720,000 emails, 360,000 contact details and 7,200 pictures, which could be very valuable to a thief.
Oscar Moren, the managing director of Pointsec Australia, said: "It is alarming to see so many people losing mobile devices in transit - considering how reliant mobile workers are on their mobile devices and the amount of sensitive information they store on them.
"It's even more alarming that very few are concerned about backing up or protecting their data. My advice to any mobile worker is to talk to their IT department about taking responsibility for security, this way your back is covered if you do lose your mobile device."
Moren added that legislation is slowly becoming more specific in this area and there is a good chance we will soon see legal action taken against individuals and organisations that do not protect information that they store on other people.
Australians seem more laidback about reclaiming their items as compared to the rest of the world. The survey found that globally, about 80 percent of passengers were reunited with their mobile phones and 96 percent with their PCs and laptops. However, only 46 percent of Australian passengers bothered to reclaim their mobiles and only 18 percent were every reunited with their laptops.
The strangest things found in Sydney taxis were Viagra tablets, ladies underwear, Playboy magazines and on one occasion, a large street sign.
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